1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compact PCI (peripheral component interconnect) connector guide that is attached to a motherboard of a small computer system to surround a male PCI connector in order to automatically and blindly direct an incoming female PCI connector that is carried on a detachable peripheral printed circuit board into a relatively quick and reliable mating engagement with the male PCI connector, whereby one or more electrical components on the peripheral board are interconnected with electrical components of the motherboard.
2. Background Art
In the small computer industry, it is sometimes necessary to detachably interconnect one or more electrical components that are carried on a peripheral printed circuit board with the electrical components and a bus system on a motherboard. That is to say, different peripheral boards are capable of performing different functions, such that it may become necessary to detachably connect a particular peripheral board to the motherboard at a certain time to perform a certain small computer function. When the computer function has been completed, the peripheral board is removed from the motherboard to wait further use.
The detachable peripheral circuit board typically has one or more female PCI connectors which must be mated to respective male PCI connectors that are affixed to the motherboard. A rapid and careless attachment of the female connectors to the male connectors has been known to cause an incomplete interconnection of the peripheral board to the motherboard and/or possible damage to the exposed contact pins of the male PCI connector. Otherwise, time and effort must be spent to properly align the incoming female and stationary male PCI connectors one above the other to assure the straight-in attachment of the female contacts to corresponding ones of the male contact pins.
Therefore, what is needed is a compact and inexpensive means for quickly, automatically and accurately guiding the male and female PCI connectors into mating engagement with one another so that the peripheral board can be reliably interconnected with the motherboard without damaging pins of the male PCI connector.
In general terms, disclosed below is a compact PCI connector guide to be attached to the motherboard of a small computer system to surround a male PCI connector that is affixed to the motherboard in order to accurately and automatically direct an incoming female PCI connector that is carried on a detachable printed circuit board into a quick and reliable mating engagement with the male PCI connector. The PCI connector guide includes front, back and opposite side walls to define a hollow interior within which to receive the male PCI connector when the connector guide is attached to the motherboard. A flared lip projects outwardly from each of the front, back and side walls of the connector guide so as to extend above the male PCI connector.
The PCI connector guide is attached to the motherboard by means of a pair of slotted locking posts that are located through holes in the motherboard. The locking posts depend downwardly from respective tabs that project from the opposite side walls of the connector guide. Each of the flared lips projecting from the opposite side walls of the connector guide has a locating notch formed therein to receive respective leading edge portions of the peripheral board. The locating notches are positioned closer to either the front or back wall of the connector guide. This off-center position of the locating notches in the flared lips assures a unidirectional insertion of the incoming female connector into the PCI connector guide and towards the stationary male PCI connector affixed to the motherboard.
The flared lips of the PCI connector guide facilitate a relatively. quick and accurate blind mating of the female and male PCI connectors by automatically redirecting the female PCI connector towards the contact pins of the male PCI connector to establish a complete electrical connection therebetween without subjecting the contact pins to possible damage. What is more, the PCI connector guide avoids the time and accuracy necessary in conventional small computer interconnect systems by eliminating the requirement that the male and female PCI connectors to be aligned one above the other to facilitate a straight-in connection.